Boko Haram

Some of the captives say they were in the clutches of the Islamic extremists for as long as a year.

One young woman, Yagana Kyari, says she was just "waiting for death" because the jihadis constantly threatened to kill their victims.

Army spokesman Col. I. T. Gusau says 12 people were rescued on Wednesday and 59 on Thursday from villages about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.

Buhari predicted in an interview with The Associated Press that Boko Haram would be defeated in 18 months or less.

But he conceded that Nigerian authorities lack intelligence about the girls still missing after the mass-kidnapping from the northern town of Chibok in April 2014 — an act that stirred international outrage and a campaign to "Bring Back Our Girls" that reached as far as the White House.

Police say two women suicide bombers killed 12 people at two prayer grounds in Damaturu on Friday morning as people were preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Hours earlier two bombs killed 50 people buying goods for the holiday at the market in Gombe, according to National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Sani Datti. Another 75 wounded are being treated in two hospitals there, he said.

A human rights activist confirmed the development to the Associated Press.

The activist said Boko Haram's current offer is limited to the girls from the school in northeastern Nigeria whose mass abduction in April 2014 ignited worldwide outrage and a campaign to "Bring Back Our Girls" that stretched to the White House.

Gov. Nasir el-Rufai urged citizens to avoid crowded public places including mosques and churches as the militants widen and accelerate the pace of attacks that have killed some 300 people in a week. Boko Haram may be responding to an Islamic State group order to commit more mayhem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The blast targeted government headquarters in the historic Muslim town as civil servants assembled to welcome a new chairman, El-Rufai said in an email to The Associated Press.

It is the latest bombing in a string of attacks blamed on Islamic extremist group Boko Haram that's killed some 200 people in the past week.

Nearly 100 men and boys praying in mosques were gunned down on Wednesday, and a local official said Sunday that 21 more bodies have been recovered from burnt-out houses since then.

On Friday, the military said six women suicide bombers caused explosions that killed scores of people including a soldier at Zabamari Muna village outside Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria and the birthplace of Boko Haram.

Hollande on Friday also called for international support to stop the Nigerian-based Islamic extremist group whose violence has crossed into neighboring countries, including Cameroon.

He said France will provide training, research and information from its intelligent services about Boko Haram to Cameroon, which is a part of a multinational force now fighting the group.

Cameroon is Hollande's final stop on a two-day visit to Africa, which started in Benin on Thursday. He then traveled to Angola before landing in Cameroon Friday.

It is the fourth attack in a week in which at least 162 people have been killed, including four suicide bombers, as Boko Haram Islamic extremists appear to obey an Islamic State group order to step up attacks in the holy month of Ramadan.

Nigeria's homegrown extremist group became the IS group's West Africa franchise earlier this year.

In the most deadly attack, the militants targeted several mosques in Kukawa town on Wednesday, gunning down nearly 100 praying worshippers. Kukawa is 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.

The attack Wednesday night on the town of Kukawa came the day after the Islamic extremist group attacked a village 35 kilometers (22 miles) away and killed another 48 men and boys, according to witnesses who counted the dead.

The people of Kukawa were in several mosques, praying ahead of breaking their daylong fast, when the extremists attacked. 

They killed 97 people, mainly men, said self-defense spokesman Abbas Gava and a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give information to reporters.